Out of time
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been reading about all the problems with Crytek and wished they had long ago sorted out a sequel to TimeSplitters. I mean what’s the point of buying up British company Free Radical if you’re not going to have them do it? Or at least something similar? This is a company known for their very British sense of humour and all they’ve been doing is boring stuff like Crysis multiplayer and Homeworld 2.

I guess it’ll never happen now but I think a new TimeSplitters could’ve completely turned round Crytek’s reputation. They’re known for good graphics but also for really boring stories and sterile art. That’s definitely not what you’d get with TimeSplitters.ED-210

Time to split
So over the past week Crytek have been in a bit of a freefall and are suffering, dropping Ryse 2. We’ve seen Nintendo re-elect a hospitalised Satoru Iwata on the back of a promising E3 and Mario Kart 8 smash the 2 million mark. So I went into thinking how can we possibly hit a hospitalised Crytek with a bit of life support with something a little different from their norm? Fans have been calling out for another journey into the world of the TimeSplitters. Since purchasing Free Radical in 2009 they have the characters in stock just like Disney with Marvel properties and the impending release of Infinity 2.0.

Fans fan looked into making their own game for the market in the form of TimeSplitters Rewind, which Crytek have given support to… So other than the previous excuse of marketing executives can’t sell a TimeSplitters revival, why can’t Crytek pick up the game themselves and run with it?
The original way of having multiplayer parties on the PlayStation with hours of arcade match-ups via multitaps and four-way split screen and multilink play taking it to 8 players has been lost with local multiplayer rarely actually activating three players. With our screens growing in size and definition we have no greater time to revive the franchise.

With the growth of multiplayer online Robofish, Captain Ash, and gingerbread men could easily terrorise a new generation on the next generation, with Chinese Chefs and the various mummy incarnations. It doesn’t even need to be a physical release, the franchise could even be released as a download only one on PC, PSN and Xbox Live Arcade. Could this help the company before it disappears into another and a great franchise is logged deeper into the books of history?Thomas

Rolled out
Gutted but completely unsurprised to see that Transformers: Rise Of The Dark Spark was no good. I’d ask why they decided to shove the Fall Of Cybertron stuff in there but obviously the answer is money, and the fact that reusing all those bits meant they had less new game to make themselves. So sad.

The end of Fall Of Cybertron set-up everything to be on Earth and for it to go completely G1 (I was hoping for it to be set in the ’80s too!) and although I guess the new game doesn’t rule that out it’s basically not happening is it?

Such a shame, but there’s no use complaining if the numbers don’t add up I guess. I just wish video games were cheaper to make and so things like this, which might not have the biggest overall audience, could still be made without compromise.Quickswitch

Fake Treasure
GC, any chance you’ll get around to reviewing indie Japanese shooter sensation Astebreed on the PC? Seeing how my hallowed Treasure are in a seemingly lassitude state at the moment Astebreed sounds like it could be the next best thing to a Sin And Punishment 3 or a 2D shooter from them!

Astebreed has been getting some pretty glowing reviews from the American gaming press, one particular review on the Bullet Heaven channel on YouTube (I highly recommend this channel to all shoot ’em-up savants!) places it on the same pedestal as legendary shooters Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, UN Squadron, and Einhinder!

And I have to say; the game does indeed look riveting and fun, with some fantastic production values, innovative scoring system, cool game play mechanics – there’s an emphasis on melee attacks with a sword, just like in the Sin And Punishment games – all whilst the game fluctuates dynamically (from what I’ve seen in various video reviews) between vertical, horizontal and 3D shooter styles, in what seems like a true evolution for the genre(s)! Astebreed sounds like it may just be another golden ticket to shooter nirvana! I await your appraisal with bated breath GC!Galvanized Gamer
PS: I’ve read on the VGChartz website that Sin And Punishment: Successor To The Skies sold a total of four hundred thousand copies to date. And here I was thinking it sold about fifty copies; isn’t that a minor success for an ultra niche game? So why no more console games from the masters?

GC: We’re already on it and hopefully we’ll have a review this week. VGChartz only estimates sales figures, so can’t be fully relied on. But 400,000 doesn’t sound bad, it just depends how much the game cost to make.

Good enough
Been playing GRID Autosport over the weekend and I’m really enjoying it. I loved the first game but thought GRID 2 was a bit of a mess. The handling in Autosport is fantastic (especially with my Fanatec wheel) but a mention has to go to the artificial intelligence, which is some of the best I’ve come across. Put the difficulty up to hard and races are bumper to bumper, it’s a genuinely thrilling ride.

Online and splitscreen modes are good too, the only niggles I have with the game are that the graphics which are good on the Xbox but not as good as the seven-year-old original. Codemasters games look more grainy now. Also, the crashes which are much better than in GRID 2 are still not the crash porn that was the original, which I don’t understand. Anyway the game is good enough to keep
me busy till GRID 3.robbie.j

Bungie story
This whole moon wizard business with Destiny kind of highlights what is my only issue with the game: Bungie have too high an opinion of themselves, particularly when it comes to storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Halo fan and love their stuff but Bungie as a developer have always come across as a bit full of themselves. Where I see a hodgepodge of ideas ripped off from other sources, that has no real bearing on the game, they seem to think the story to Halo is some Shakesperian masterpiece.

Likewise their attitude to the bizarre dialogue in Destiny seems to be the sudden pretence that it’s not finished. How can a script not be finished? If it wasn’t done just don’t have them saying anything yet, it’s only an alpha. I just worry that all their attention is focused on these side issues and not the important stuff. But I guess with the budget they’re working with they must have enough people to go round.

But… it’s a shooter with a bunch of weird monsters in it. It doesn’t have to make sense, just make it a cool shooter.Crabbapple

Not my problem
I’m sorry but this is the last I’m commenting on the collective hand-wringing by the GC parents here. I was looking for advice about which console to buy and was accused of losing my individuality, my interest, and basically turning old and boring… I’m not a parent yet, and everything about it is a big unknown to me but gaming is what I do and will not be giving anything up.

But siding with Gill C., PK Donnolli? Where are the sides? I’m not speaking against gaming as a parent but a few people here have showed me what to beware of turning into. Clearly buttons have been pushed here. They are your issues, not mine.lee gerrish

Despite themselves
So, I have now been in possession of a Wii U for about a month now. I have never owned a Nintendo platform before, and only really ever played Mario Kart on the SNES. So, I now own Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Zelda: The Wind Waker, Lego City Undercover, Mario Kart 8, and Super Mario 3D World is on its way. What do I think? Nintendo are a bunch of morons/geniuses.

The games that I have played are a just so much fun! I love a lot of the games on my PlayStation 3, and I am sure I will for my PlayStation 4, but Nintendo are doing things that no one else is doing. Bringing a smile to my face. Making gaming joyous. So, that is the genius side explained.

The moron side? Who is in charge of marketing at Nintendo? The Keystone Cops? ‘Let’s call our new console the Wii U. That way, people who are casual gamers (the ones who bought the Wii) won’t be too sure if the Wii U is a peripheral, or even a handheld device for the Wii. Let us not advertise this machine. Let us not explain what we intend to do with the GamePad. Let us release the console with little to no games on the horizon’. So annoying.

The Wii U and Nintendo deserve success, because of their obvious love of games. They also however deserve to take a bloody nose, because of their moronic ways of marketing. The thing is, when their next console comes out I would not be surprised if Nintendo made a whole bunch of new mistakes. They are the most bizarrely successful company I know!

Anyway, I would love to play Mario Kart online with CG community, so add me please!Tezza (NN ID) Add me!

GC: Moronic geniuses? Yep, that sounds like Nintendo all right.

Inbox also-rans
Any Mass Effect fans watching the new series of 24? The actress Yvonne Strahovski, who plays agent Kate Morgan, also plays Miranda Lawson in the Mass Effect series.chazchopp

Bargain alert! Argos are selling Castlevania: Mirror Of Fate on the 3DS for £12.49 with free delivery!OL

This week’s Hot Topic
It’s already July this week, which means the year is now officially half over. So for this weekend’s Inbox we want to know what you think has been the best game of the year so far.

Do you think 2014 so far has been a good year for new games and how would you compare it to previous years? How many new games have you bought so far this year and is that more or less than usual? What do you think of the line-up of new games for the rest of the year and do you think 2014 will go down as a classic year for gaming, an average one, or a disappointing one?